KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A column of Canadian tanks emerged from the desert Thursday, trundling into this NATO airfield at the end of an unlikely combat mission where they proved their worth in the counter-insurgency war against the Taliban.

Deployed for the first time overseas since the Second World War, tanks from the 12e Regiment blinde du Canada have spent almost all of their seven months in Kandahar patrolling western Panjwaii. They had been sent there along with infantry and combat engineers to protect a key road-building project that Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner likened to "stabbing the Taliban in the heart."

A career tanker himself, Milner shouted "It's history, c'est magnifique!" as he saluted the dirt-covered crews from Valcartier, Que., as they paraded past him in their Leopard 2 tanks.

Canada was the only NATO country to deploy tanks to Kandahar. They arrived in the bloody aftermath of Operation Medusa in late 2006, when the Taliban suffered high casualties after massing in their hundreds to fight Canadian infantry.

Although military experts considered them too heavy to be effective in a counter-insurgency conflict, the Danes and the U.S. Marine Corps subsequently also deployed main battle tanks, to fight the Taliban in neighbouring Helmand.

"Tanks have proven their utility in a counter-insurgency," said Master Warrant Officer Alain Champagne, the regiment's sergeant major. "When our major would go to a shura (meeting) and climb out of his tank, he was the boss. A tank really has a psychological effect.

"To be the sergeant major of an echelon of tanks on operations, that is the summit of my career. I will never have another challenge in life like this."

Canada was getting rid of all of its tanks in 2007, when the army suddenly allayed that order and dispatched them to Afghanistan.

Having performed well in Kandahar, it has been decided that tanks will be given a reprieve, but the 12e Regiment Blinde may not operate any of them. It appears that most of Canada's new German-built Leopard 2s are to be operated by the Edmonton-based Lord Strathcona's Horse (the Royal Canadians).

The tank squadron, which is part of the 1 Royal 22nd Regiment battle group here, is returning home with the other Canadian combat forces this summer. The squadron did not suffer any deaths or serious injuries, although its Leopards struck more than 10 improvised explosive devices.

"The main threat to the tanks were IEDs, but we were as close to as you can be to being invincible because the mine protection works so well," said Maj. Eric Landry, the squadron commander.

As well as providing cover for infantry and engineers, the tanks were used to escort Afghan road crews and gravel trucks working on the road, which pushed west from central Panjwaii to the Taliban-infested Horn.

"It was pretty unusual. You don't learn how to do that on a course," said Capt. Pascal Croteau, the battle captain who planned the tanks' missions.

Croteau, who served on tanks in Kandahar a few years back, said that it had taken 36 hours to reach the Horn of Panjwaii during his first tour and in that time the tanks struck 14 IEDs and had been involved in six firefights. The same journey on the new paved highway took 45 minutes and incidents with the Taliban were rare.

Landry, who is off to a staff college in Ontario, said he might do his thesis there on tanks in a counter-insurgency environment and how they complemented the work of the infantry and engineers.

"We quickly realized that the tanks were a deterrent," he said. "You could place them on the side of a road or in a river bed to be seen. But they were not as effective in towns along the road. And patrolling with tank at night was not very effective because the enemy could hear us from far away.

"We also had to be careful about the damage that tanks cause. That can be counter-productive, so I had to really discipline my guys to not go off the road."

Another challenge was getting and keeping the local population on side.

"Everybody wanted the road, but not on their territory," Landry said. "We learned by interacting so much with the locals.

"The fighting season of 2011 never really picked up. And the economy is rising. These are the facts. The new roads are directly connected with that. We were in the Horn facing the enemy every day."

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